Dealership takes auto lease buyout money and vanishes, leaving driver in

Dawn Masino of Budd Lake leased a car from Route 46 Hyundai in Hackettstown in June 2017.

At the end of February, she decided to buy the car.

She was approved for a loan for $15,000 from Fifth Third Bank, gave the dealership a down payment of $2,500 and got her temporary license plate, documents show.

Masino said she didn’t worry about getting her permanent plates because of the coronavirus pandemic, and she started her car payments to Fifth Third Bank on April 10.

In mid-April, she said, she drove to the dealership to get her plates, she said.

“There were a sign on the door saying they would reopen in May,” she said. “At the end of May, I got a call from Hyundai Motor Finance about delinquent payments. I told them I no longer have a lease, that I purchased the car.”

But Hyundai’s records showed she still had a lease. And she was behind on the payments.

Unable to reach the dealership by phone or email, Masino visited the dealership again, but it was still closed.

She checked with Fifth Third Bank, which confirmed her loan was in good standing and it confirmed the lease buyout amount was sent by wire to Route 46 Hyundai as instructed.

No one could figure out what happened to the money.

In the first week of June, Masino returned to the dealership again.

“There was not one car on the lot or one desk in the showroom,” she said. “They had left, and I still had expired temporary plates on my car.”

She escalated the case with Hyundai, and eventually spoke to a case manager who requested she check again with Fifth Third about the payment.

In a conference call on June 17 with the bank and Hyundai Motor Finance, the bank confirmed the wire transfer to Route 46 Hyundai went through on March 4, Masino said.

“(The Hyundai representative) said it didn’t matter because they didn’t have the money and they needed to be paid,” Masino said. “I said it seemed to me they needed to go after the dealership. We asked to speak to one of his supervisors. He put us on hold and never came back.”

Next she tried Comfort Auto Group, which owns Route 46 Hyundai.

“The gentleman wouldn’t give me his name but told me that they no longer have anything to do with Route 46 Hyundai — of course, because they’re out of business — and he’s heard other stories like mine and `it’s really too bad.‘”

The next day, she filed a police report with Washington Township and spoke to an officer about her case.

“He was not even surprised,” she said. “He told me I am not the only person he knows of who had an issue with this dealership and now things are a mess.”

Masino called Hyundai again.

“From where they stand, I owe them money,” she said. “They suggested I ask Fifth Third Bank if they would pay the money again and this time send it to Hyundai Motor Finance, and then if there is a settlement, the bank can get their money back.”

That wasn’t likely…